Cooling device for valves and the like



March 27, 1928.

C. F. KETTERING COOLINGDEVICE FOR VALVES AND THE LIKE Ofizinal FiledJan.l0, 1918 Witnesses Patented Mar. 27, 1928.

1r s ATas v 1,663,709 ATENT oFFica.

CHARLES E. KETTERING, OF DAYTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS,TO DELGO-LIGHT COMPANY, OF DAYTON, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

COOLING- DIJVICE FOR VALVES AND THE LIKE.

Application filed January 10, 1918, Serial No. 211,156. Renewed August16, 1927.

cury, referred to herein asthe working me-' dium or working mercury,which vaporiz es orboils in contact with the heated surface, and thevapor is brought into contact with a heat absorbing or cooling surface.

A deviceof this character may consist of a valve or other engine parthaving ahollow body which is subjected to the heat caused by the engineoperation. This valve contains a small quantity of working mercury,portions of which, when vaporized by the heat, pass upthe hollow stem ofthe valve into a cooling portion thereof, (preferably provided withcoolin ribs), and the cooled or condensed vapor falls back to theworking mercury, which process of vaporization and cooling dissipatesthe heat and materially reduces the temperature around the valve head.

It will be understood that the devices referred to are applicable notonly to valves, but alsoto other other devices, wh1ch in operation aresubjected to considerable heat and which it is desired to cool. However,as a specific cmbodiment of my improvements, the descriptionwhichfollows will be directed more particularly to'valves of engines ofthe character described. 1

Among the ob'ects of the presentin'vention are to provi e devices of theabove character with improved means for facilitating the transfer ofheat from the part to be maintained at a desired temperature or cooled;to increase the efliciency of valves of the kind above referred to, andto insure that the cooling action shall take place before the valvebecom s too highly heated.

- In accordance wit my present invention, I provide devices of thecharacter described with heat dissi ating or transferring bodies, as aresult of w ich the valve or the like will be maintained in a cooledcondition in an exarts of the engine, or to tremely effective manner.These heat transferring bod es may be a metalllc or amalgam coatlng orveneer on the interior of the hollow valve, and this heat transferringbody appears to have the effect of facilitating the transfer of the heatfrom the metal of the valve to the working mercury, and vice versa. Inother words, it'possesses the quality of providing good thermal contact,so

that heat readily flows from it to the mercury and vice versa, and alsofrom'the metal ofthe valve to it,-and vice versa. 'As the result, themercury is raised to a boiling point more rapidly than would be the casewithout any such. amalgam coating, and begins its function to cool thevalve at a relatively early stage in its operation, and before the valvereaches an extremelyhigh. temperature. Moreover, when the workingmercury is functioning to cool the valve, this veneer or coating of.amalgam or heat transferring medium appears to act as an effectiveintermediary to transfer the heat from the vaporized mercury to themetal of the cooling part of the valve, thereby coolmg or condensing thevaporized mercury indt aiding still further in dissipating the In orderthat my invention may be morereadily comprehended, I have described apreferred embodiment thereof herein with reference to the accompanyingdrawing, which shows a valve in accordance with my invention insectional elevation. For the sake of clearness the stem of the valve isshown greatly enlar ed.

Referring to the rawing, the valve consists of the hollow stem 20 andthe head 21, tfiis head. consisting of the parts 22 and 23, t e the oint24. and the part 23 being welded to the part 22 at the joints 25. Theseat of the valve is approximately around the periphery of the'head 21at the point 26.

The top of the valve stem is tapered at 30,

and this stem may serve to receive the an-' the valve. A plug34 closesthe upper end part 22 being Welded to the stem 20 at.

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of the valve, and is welded thereto at its edges. A central opening 35,closed by a plug 36, may be provided for a purpose hereinafterdescribed.

It is to be noted that the conical head of the valve encloses a chamber40 of relatively narrow cross-section, and this chamber is provided inorderto form a receptacle for the working mercury 41, the arrangementbeing such that when the valve is heated, this mercury will boil and themercury vapor will pass up towards the upper end of the valve stem,where it will be cooled and will then drop back to the valve head, as

described in the aforementioned co-pending application.

It is to be noted that the interior walls of the valve stem and the headare provided with a coating 42 of amalgam or heat-transferring medium,This coating is, for the sake of clearness, shown on an exaggeratedscale in the drawing; but in practice it is generally relatively thin,the purpose of the coating being to facilitate the transmission of heatfrom the metal head of the valve to the working mercury in the interiorof the valve, in order to initiate the boiling of the mercury before thewalls of the valve become too hot, and also to facilitatethetransmission of heat from the mercury vapor to the walls of the valvewhile the cooling takes place. 7

I find that the best results are obtained by the use of amalgam coating,that is, an alloy of mercury and some other metal, and I find that ifthis amalgam be introduced into the valve, it will, in the course of theoperation of the valve, become deposited upon the interior of the valvein the form 0 the coating 42.

The coating may consist of an amalgam of brass, which may be introducedeither in the form of brass, or in the form of an amalgam, intotheinterior of the valve in any suitable manner. For instance, it can beintroduced at the time of brazing the joints of the valve by the use ofbrass as a brazing medium, an excess of brass being employed whichpasses into the interior of the valveand forms an amalgam with themercury, which, in the operation of the valve, is transferred to thewalls of the valve to form the coating 42. Or I may introduce a smallquantity of an amalgam, through the opening- 35 at the top of the valve,which is thereafter plugged up and sealed hermetically as shown, andthis amalgam is deposited upon the walls of the valve to form thecoating 42 as herein described.

Instead of introducing an amalgam through the opening 35, a metal ormetal compound ma be/ introduced, which will form an ama gam with theworking mercur Various methods of amalgamating su valves and otherwisetreating them are weaves described in the co-pending application ofThomas Midgley, Jr., Serial No. 211,224, filed January 10, 1918.

In the operation of my improved device, I find thatI- obtain markedlyimproved results from the introduction of another metal or amalgam asdescribed herein. This I ascribe to the fact that; the metal or amalgamforms a coating on the interior of the wall of the valve which can bewetted by the working mercury and which facilitates the passage of heatfrom the metal of the valve to the interior metal and vice versa in amanner which appears to be absent in valves not having such a coating.As a result, I find that the valve in accordance with the presentinvention will be considerably cooler in operation than a valve whichcontains the working mercury alone. I believethat I am correct indescribing the metallic coating as an amalgam or alloy of mercury, butit will be understood that I use this term generally to indicate thealloy or mixture of metals which is formed as a result of this.invention. 1

It will, of course, be understood that portions of the working mercuryare continuously vaporized when the mercury reaches its boiling point;these portions pass up towards the upper part of the stem, and are therecooled and give up heat. The condensed mercury, thus transformed againinto liquid form, falls by gravity back to the chamber in the valvehead, thereby brin ing about a continuous and automatic coo linoperation; andthe device forming a self contained cooling system.

While I have referred herein to certain metals and amalgams which may beemployed for the purpose of forming a coating or veneer herein, I wishit to be understood that other metals may be found to be suitable forthe purposes of m invention, all coming within the scope o the claimswhich follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. In a device of the kind described including a hollow portion, a bodyof work ing mercury within said hollow portion, and a eat transferringbody upon the interior walls of said hollow portion,

2. In a device of the kind described, in.- cluding a hollow portion, abody of working mercury within said hollow portion, and a metalliccoating upon the interior walls of said hollow portion.

3. In a device of the kind described. including a hollow portion, a bodyof working mercury within said hollow portion, and an amalgam coatingupon the interior walls of said hollow portion. a i

4. In a device of the kind described including a hollow portion adaptedto be exposed to high temperature conditions, cooling means including abody of working mercury and another metal contained within the interiorof said hollow portion.

5. In a device of the kind described, including a hollow portion adaptedto be exposed to high temperature conditions, c001- lng means includinga body of workin mercury and an amalgam contained within the interior ofsaid hollow portion.

6. An engine valve formed with a hollow of said hollow portion.

8. In a device of the kind described, including a hollow portion, afluid chemical element within said hollow portion, and a heattransferrin body upon the interior walls of said hol ow portion.

9. The method of facilitating the transfer of heat between mercury vaporand a metal body, which consists in causing the heat to traverse aninteremdiate metal.

10. The method of facilitating the transfer of heat between mercuryvapor and a metal body, which consists in causing the heat to traversean intermediate amalgam.

11. The method of facilitating the trans fer of heat between a body ofworking mercury and another metal body, which consists in causing theheat'to traverse an intermediate metal in passing from one of saidbodies to the other.

12. The method of facilitating the transfer of heat between a body ofworking mercury and another metal body, which consists in causin theheat to traverse an alloy of one of said bodies in passing from one bodyto the other. a

13. In a device of the kind described, including a hollow portion, abody of working mercury within said hollow portion, and a metalliccoating upon the interior walls of said hollow portion, said metalliccoating having the property of being wetted bythe working mercury.

14. An engine valve of the character described, comprising a hollow stemhaving a flared end portion, and.v means adapted to cooperate with saidflared end portion to form a valve head, said flared end portion andsaid means being welded together about their circumferential edges, andsaid means comprising a cupped plate nested in said flared end portion.

15. An engine valve of the character described having a stem, and anenlarged head,

said head including a pair of plate members spaced apart to providetherebetween a hollow head, the one plate member being centrally securedto said stem and the other plate member being supported wholly by saidfirst plate-member and secured thereto by welding about its peripheraledge, said plates being cupped and nesting with one an0ther..

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

CHARLES F. KETTERING.

